We keep tring to go on a buget but there always comes along something that just wrecks it, something that HAS to be fixed or whatever and its a BIG bill. we never have figured out how to cover something like that.

dh just last month started a chart to see where all our money doe go, very interesting IMO

momto l&a the answer to your question is to budget into savings accounts money that covers unexpected expenses. The type of expense (car breaking down, acts of G*d) is unexpected. But the fact that you most definitely will have things that come up to pay for is not unexpected. And hey - if they never come up - great! you have that much more money in your savings account.

oh and also i want to say that this book is actually how to budget vs. how to save money which was just what i needed.

That's a good point about the savings account. Pay yourself first! I just started doing that myself. I put 10% of every check into the savings account. I just opened a savings account with INGdirect that earns 2% interest, plus I got a $25 bonus for opening through a link someone sent me, plus another $10 bonus for my niece signing up through a link I sent her. Not bad! Within a couple of weeks I now have almost $200 saved. That's $200 that I would have just spent on something else if it didn't go right into the savings account. I plan to put 10% of my tax refund away too. Now when something comes up, and something always will :LOL, I'll have some money.